Lesson 8 bimoi seltadni Attitudinal Indicators selcinmo selsku 8.1 Not everything expressed in Lojban is a bridi or a sumti or selbri within one. There are other things that can be stuck into sentences with varying amounts of freedom. We have actually seen several things so far that are unrelated to bridi: - vocatives, and vocative markers including: - coi, co'o and coico'o; - pe'u, fi'i, ki'e, and ke'o; - doi; - clarification request with ki'a; - the eraser words si, sa, and su. "vau" is considered part of a bridi (specifically, a terminator of one), even though it is neither part of a selbri, nor is it a sumti. We now introduce another type of insert called an 'attitudinal indicator'. Attitudinal indicators are part of selma'o UI, named of course after .ui, which is one of the common indicators. Specifically, all cmavo of VV or V'V form are attitudinal indicators within selma'o UI. (Indicators are usually written with the period representing the pause that is always required before a vowel initial word - unless you've already paused for another reason.) This is one of the few cases where cmavo can be classified completely based on their form. Note that there are 39 of these attitudinal indicators: all 25 possible combinations of V'V, the four standard diphthong VV pairs (.ai, .au, .ei, .oi), and the ten VV pairs that are permitted in diphthongs only in these attitudinal indicators and in names (.ia, .ie, .ii, .io, .iu, .ua, .ue, .ui, .uo, .uu). Members of selma'o UI do not all express attitude, but all that will be presented in this lesson either express attitudes or question attitudes in others. ki'a is a member of selma'o UI because its grammar is identical; while it indicates some type of confusion, it is not really thought of as an attitude indicator because it is not of the same form as the others. As with all selma'os, however, all members of UI have identical grammars - they can be used in the same way in the same places. In the case of UI, there isn't a lot to say about the grammar. A member of UI can go anywhere. UI is not allowed to interfere with a quote or eraser word, which take precedence, but otherwise an individual UI is virtually without grammar. We aren't going to go through all 39 attitudinal indicators at this time. You have plenty of vocabulary to work on. We will instead limit ourselves to the 12 most useful indicators and the attitude question word pei. A list of the indicators for this lesson follow: .ai (intent) indicates that the speaker intends that the referent (have been true), be true or become true; 'Aye aye!' .au (desire) indicates that the speaker wants the referent to have been true, to be true or to become true .a'o (hope) indicates that the speaker hopes that the referent was true, is true or becomes true .ei (obligation) indicates that the speaker feels a sense of obligation that the referent was true, is true or becomes true .e'a (permission) indicates that the speaker permits or allows that the referent was true, is true or becomes true .e'o (petition) indicates that the speaker is asking or petitioning someone that the referent be true or become true .e'u (suggestion) indicates that the speaker suggests (to someone) that the referent was true, is true or becomes true .ia (belief) indicates that the speaker has faith or believes, with or without supporting evidence, experience, or knowledge, that the referent was true, is true, or will be true; German 'ja', 'yes' .ie (agreement) indicates that the speaker agrees, regardless of evidence, experience, knowledge, or belief, that the referent was true, is true, or will be true; 'yes' .i'e (approval) indicates that the speaker feels or wishes to express approval (usually towards the listener but not necessarily), inspired by the referent whether true or not .oi (pain/complaint) indicates that the speaker is in pain or distress (physical or otherwise), or wishes to complain about the referent having been true, being true, or going to be true; 'Oy vay!' .ua (discovery) indicates that the speaker has just discovered the truth of the referent; 'Wow!', 'Wah!', 'Ah ha!' .ue (surprise) indicates that the speaker is surprised that the referent was, is, or will be true; 'Well!' .ui (happiness) indicates that the speaker is happy that the referent was, is, or will be true; 'Wheee! .uu (pity) indicates that the speaker feels sorry for someone, or is sorry that the referent was, is, or will be true; 'Ooooh!' .u'u (repentance) indicates that the speaker regrets or repents that the referent was, is, or will be true; 'Ooooh!' The definitions are probably a little confusing, so let us explore what they mean, using .ui itself as an example. First of all, we note that a sentence is generally (though not always), a statement or assertion of truth. Lojban, as a logical language, places great weight on being able to ease the determination of truth or falsity of an assertion. It is assumed, therefore, that unless modified in some way, a bridi sentence is always a statement or assertion of truth. Our emotions and attitudes are not always presumed to be subject to logic in this manner. Truly, we can express emotions as statements or assertions: "I am happy about ..."; for this purpose, there are brivla corresponding to each attitudinal indicator. These assertions indicate a real world manifestation of the attitude. Often, however, the attitude just 'comes out'. In English, we have a whole series of sounds or short expressions, as well as many clues hidden in the intonation of the sentence, as to how we are feeling. We can act out or fake these sounds and expressions, but they are not assertions about the real world. When they aren't acted out, they are manifestations of the world inside our minds, which is not necessarily in agreement with reality. We can be happy about sad events, surprised at the ordinary. A good actor/actress, in order to be convincing, must internalize these attitudes as if they were actually being felt. Every language spoken by human beings has indicators of attitude that are to some extent beyond grammar. Contrary to common belief, in most cases these attitudes are expressed differently in different languages. Lojban, which does not allow tone of voice to carry information, must therefore use a slightly different set of indicators than does English. A Lojban question need not be asked with rising tone, nor does a rising tone necessarily indicate a question. Because Lojban is a designed language, an attempt was made to systematize the sounds and their usage. In actual usage, we probably won't follow these rules exactly. But the system allows the communication of internal emotion on a separate track from the logical truth value of the statements we make. This is so natural to language that it is believed that the rules can be internalized to some extent. (Native Lojban speakers would presumably internalize them completely, but there are none of these as of yet.) While Lojban indicators are independent of grammar, the grammar, however, affects how UI members must be interpreted. When a UI cmavo appears at the beginning of a sentence (after the ".i" in a continuation sentence), it is taken to indicate an attitude about, or otherwise refer to, the whole sentence. If a UI cmavo appears anywhere else in a sentence, it interacts with whatever is the previous word, for purposes of interpretation. In most cases, this means that the UI expresses an attitude about the individual word or its meaning in the context of the surrounding sentence. Thus: .ui le prenu ku cu klama means that we are happy about: the fact that the person is coming le .ui prenu ku cu klama means that we are happy about: the person that we have in mind, who is coming le prenu .ui ku cu klama means that we are happy about: the personhood of the person who is coming le prenu ku .ui cu klama means that we are happy about: the person who is coming le prenu ku cu .ui klama means that we are happy about: the fact that the person is coming le prenu ku cu klama .ui means that we are happy about: the coming-ness of the person who is coming An indicator attached to "ku", which marks the end of a grammatical structure, applies to the entire grammatical structure. But "cu" does not mark the end of a structure. Instead, an indicator attached to "cu" applies to the entire selbri, which in this sentence is simply the brivla "klama". It perhaps can be seen that ".ia" and ".ie" benefit considerably more from the capability to narrow the scope of an indicator to a piece of a sentence instead of the whole sentence. But when it is desired, any of the indicators can apply to any piece of the sentence, just as was demonstrated for ".ui" above. To get a better feel for indicators, it may be easier at first to explore their English equivalent. You can see the effects of attitudinal indicators in English by choosing the right English indicators. For example, try a typical length English sentence, inserting the phrase 'I hope', or 'God forbid (with emphasis)' in each of the possible word slots in the sentence. The results will be similar to the above ".ui" example. Note that indicators must be assumed to match the bridi, which thus far always has unspecified tense. Some of the interpretations become strange with certain tenses, but are still permitted. Some of the indicators have proven easier to learn or more natural for English speakers, in some cases because we have a convenient cognate or similar expression in our own language. The ones in this lesson are among the easiest and most useful, and will allow you to start to gain the flavor of these bits of language that we so seldom think about, but which perform so much of human communication. 8.2 Attitudinal Questions selcinmo preti The attitudinal question "pei" is most simply translated as: "How do you feel about?". However, if you look at the range of possible attitudinal responses, some common sense must be used in determining how to answer "pei". The answer, of course, should be one that goes would go in the place of "pei" in the sentence and cover the scope indicated by that position. Beyond this, one must consider the circumstances of the conversation. If someone is expressing a train of thought, "pei" indicates the range of "Do you understand?", "Do you agree?", and "Do you like the way this train of thought is leading?" Answering ".au" would be irrelevant in most such cases, and somewhat distracting. More appropriate would be ".ia", ".ie", "ki'a", or ".ui". If someone brings a statement up without mentioning supporting evidence, "pei" indicates "Did you know?" or "Would you believe?", and would tend to be respond to with ".ia" or ".ie", or possibly ".ua" or ".ue". Responding to an idea, suggestion, or proposal, on the other hand, with ".ia" would be upsetting. ".ie" might sometimes be acceptable, but ".ai", ".au", and ".a'o", or possibly ".oi" would be better answers in most circumstances. Experiment with the attitudinals and look at the examples that follow. They are among the easiest words to learn in Lojban, and their creative use can be most enriching. 8.3 Examples mupli 8.3.1 la rik. cu cusku: la .alis. cu pendo mi .i la'edi'u cu xamgu Alice is-a-friend of me. The-referent-of-the-last-sentence is-good. .i mi cu nelci la .alis. .i la fred. cu nelci la .alis. I like Alice. Fred likes Alice. .i mi cu xebni la fred. la'edi'u I hate Fred for the-referent-of-the-last-sentence. .i .i'a la'edi'u cu palci (Belief) The-referent-of-the-last-sentence is-evil. .i .ai mi cu na bradi la Fred. (Intent) I am not an-enemy of Fred. 8.3.2 rik.: zo dinju cu valsi ma "dinju" is-a-word meaning what? .i .o'i mi cu na morji zo'e zo dinju (Annoyance) I don't remember (something) about "dinju". alis.: le dinju ku cu se kumfa .i le dinju ku cu se loldi The building has-a-room [is be-roomed?]. The building has-a-floor. rik.: .uu mi cu na jimpe di'u (Regret) I don't understand the-previous-sentence. alis.: .a'o mi cu ciksi .i pei ti cu kumfa ku (Hopefully) I explain. How-do-you-feel-about this is-a-room? rik.: .ie ti cu kumfa Agreement: this is a room. alis.: ti cu kumfa le dinju ku This is-a-room of the building. rik.: .ua mi cu jimpe .i ti cu loldi le dinju ku (Eureka) I understand. This is-a-floor of the building. .i ta cu bitmu le dinju ku That is-a-wall of the building. alis.: .ui do cu jimpe (Happily) you understand. rik.: .i tu cu vorme le dinju ku That yonder is-a-door of the building. .i ta cu canko le dinju ku That is-a-window of the building. alis.: .oi .i ko cu sisti le savru ku (Complaint). Stop the noise! 8.3.3 djos.: ko cu lebna le bunre ku pe'u doi rik. Take the brown-thing, please Rick. rik.: mi cu na kakne .i le bunre ku cu vorme .i le bunre ku cu barda I can't. The brown-thing is-a-door. The brown-thing is-big. djos.: ko cu lebna le bunre ku pe'u doi .alis. Take the brown-thing, please Alice. alis.: le ki'a bunre The (clarify which "the") brown-thing? djos.: le bunre ku cu nenri le tanxe ku The brown-thing is-in the box. alis.: mi cu lebna le bunre ku .i le bunre ku cu cukta I take the brown-thing. The brown-thing is-a-book. djos.: ko cu dunda le bunre ku la Rik. Give the brown-thing to Rick. alis.: .u'u le cukta ku cu farlu .i le cukta ku cu cnita le stizu ku (Regret) The book falls. The book is-beneath the chair. rik.: le cukta ku cu jibni mi .i mi cu cpacu le cukta ku le loldi ku The book is-near me. I get the book from the floor.